Newsletter

Editorial: New zoning code to be more user-friendly

Understanding and coping with government rules and regulations is seldom a simple process. And anything done to make rules and regulations at any level of government easier to decipher and more user-friendly is always welcome.

Therefore, updated zoning codes drafted by the Topeka’s planning department under the guidance of planning director Bill Fiander and endorsed by the Topeka Planning Commission are welcome indeed.

Planning commissioners voted unanimously Monday to support the new codes, which still must be approved by Topeka’s governing body. From what we’ve heard and read about the proposed changes, however, they appear to be designed to make it easier for individual property owners, developers and contractors to readily determine what is and is not allowed under each of the city’s zoning classifications.

The proposed codes include a matrix that lists the city’s different types of zoning across the top of a page and different uses listed down the side of a page. Users only have to follow the projected use across the page to the current zoning to determine if they are a match.

Granted, the codes involve more than a matrix, but that one aid will answer a lot of the questions Topekans, particularly individual property owners, have when they contemplate improvements and developments, large and small.

Reading through pages of “government-speak” to learn what is and isn’t allowed can be an arduous task. It can take a lot of reading to determine whether something is allowed, or at least isn’t prohibited. And once you think you’ve got it figured out, you find something else that raises doubts.

Fiander says the goal was to made the codes easier to navigate by using clear and predictable terminology and incorporating the matrix format to be more user-friendly.

Fiander, his staff and planning commissioners deserve kudos for taking something most people find complicated and making it easier to understand.

They also deserve credit for a proposed change in the codes that will allow property owners to use vacant lots in all the varying zoning classifications for community gardens. Gardens now are not allowed as a primary use for vacant lots.

Several Topekans asked for the change Monday when planning commissioners conducted a hearing on the proposed codes. Allowing the gardens, which are becoming more popular, only makes sense and offers the added benefit of improving the appearance of many vacant properties.